But as the timber industry shrunk, the line’s service area moved farther west. The Sitka-based company now carries cargo to and from Seattle, Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak, King Cove and Dutch Harbor.

The list could expand – later this year.

“We started in Southeast, we still have our headquarters in Southeast, so why not be in Southeast. It just makes sense,” said Samson Tug and Barge Vice President Cory Baggen.

“We’ve looked at entering the Southeast market over the years. But with two carriers in the region there really hasn’t been room for a third,” she said.

“There is a regulatory review process and the state of Alaska wants to ensure that where there’s competitive overlap between Lynden and Northland, that there’s alternative services available,” he said.

Burdick said buying Northland expands Lynden’s service area to Western Alaska, as well as Hawaii.

But he said Lynden’s Alaska Marine Lines subsidiary will not reduce Southeast port calls.

“At a minimum, they’ll receive equal frequency of service. In terms of equaling what AML’s doing now or what AML plus Northland’s doing now? AML plus Northland,” he said.

Burdick expects most Northland employees will either keep their jobs or find new ones with Alaska Marine Lines or Samson Tug and Barge.

Baggen said her company will be hiring.

“Eventually, we’ll probably double our size, probably have somewhere between 120 and 160 employees. … Most of those employees will be in Alaska,” she said.

Baggen understands her company will compete against a much larger operation.

She said Samson will do that by providing personalized customer service.

“We’re not the box-box carrier. We’re not going to be the one that says you better do it at this time in this way. We don’t care how you want to do it. We’re going to say, hey, what do you need and we’re going to do the best we can to come in and really work for the customers,” she said.

Both companies expect the sale to be completed by the end of this year.

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